NCT05022251

Identifying Pain Generators and Potentiators of Residual Complaints Following Lumbar Discectomy

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 1 (actual)
• Sponsor: University Ghent · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Lumbar discectomy (i.e. surgically removing a hernia) is frequently performed in Belgium to treat lumbar radiculopathy. Every year \>12,000 interventions are performed with variable long-term results. The treatment success of this procedure varies and up to 41% of the patients report post-operative persistent pain complaints, and consequently suffer from failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). Chronic complaints in FBSS following lumbar discectomy are usually treated with symptomatic interventions (including painkillers, neuromodulation, etc), rather than from a biopsychosocial perspective. In order to develop a focused and effective treatment strategy, it is crucial to first gain insight into how persons with persistent complaints after lumbar discectomy differ from those without persistent symptoms. Different known contributing factors entail type of surgery, muscle and psychosocial impairments. Although in scientific and clinical literature it is assumed that dysfunctional pain processing also plays an important mechanistic role in FBSS, there is a lack of research to support this. However, this knowledge is crucial to depict the full mechanistic picture of pain generators and potentiators in FBSS. Therefore, we will examine whether residual complaints persisting following lumbar discectomy can be accounted for by underlying dysfunctional pain processing and whether a clinical classification algorithm can be used to identify the predominant pain mechanism in these patients.

Conditions

• Lumbar Radiculopathy
• Central Sensitisation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Lumbar discectomy	surgically removing a hernia

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-10-01
• Primary completion: 2023-10-31
• Completion: 2023-10-31
• First posted: 2021-08-26
• Last updated: 2023-12-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Belgium